Ole Miss may not be in the lead for Opa Locka (Monsignor Pace), Fla. wide receiver Sterling Griffin, but the fact that the Rebels are the only Southeastern Conference team to offer Griffin may very well put them in a position to get consideration from the standout athlete.

Last season, the 6-foot-1, 174 pound Griffin finished with 35 catches for 910 yards and nine touchdowns. On defense, he finished with 50 tackles and had two interceptions. Rivals.com rates him as the 98th best wide receiver in the 2009 class.

"They (Ole Miss) are in the SEC and that says a lot, that gives me something to consider," Griffin said on Wednesday evening.

Griffin said that Purdue and South Florida are standing out as his top schools, but Ole Miss as well as several other SEC schools could become major players this fall.

Griffin was part of an entourage of prospects who went on a tour of colleges that included stops at Florida, Florida State, South Carolina, Clemson, Tennessee, and Alabama and he came away impressed with several of those schools, particularly South Carolina and Tennessee.

However, at this point, Griffin's offer sheet includes Iowa State, South Florida, Purdue, Syracuse, Virginia, Florida Atlantic, and Florida International in addition to the Ole Miss offer.

"I don't know a lot about Ole Miss at this point," Griffin said. "I haven't called the coaches but I'm getting a lot of mail including a lot of hand written letters," Griffin said.

He expects Ole Miss' recruitment is likely to pick up once coaches can begin calling recruits on Sept. 1.

"Ole Miss could become a candidate after I get to know some of the coaches," he said. "Relationships with coaches are important and that's one thing I'll have to consider if I start liking their coaches."

Griffin said the three most important things that will impact his decision will be early playing time, having a good relationship with coaches, and attending a school where he can get an good education.

The three star prospect said that Purdue and South Florida will definitely get two of his five allotted visits; however, beyond that, he's undecided about other official visits that he'll take this fall.

"I hope to have all the visits completed during my season and make a decision by the end of the season," he said. "Ole Miss could certainly be one of the schools I decide to visit."

He also hopes to attract some additional offers along the way.

"I'm hearing from a lot of schools, lots of schools are interested," he said. "I hope to have a break out season this fall."

Griffin said that his Monsignor Pace team finished with a 9-3 record last season and he's looking for even bigger things this fall.

"We've been working hard, getting that chemistry going on the team," he said. "We're really getting in gear and hope to finish better this year than we did last year."